UK Rental Market and Landlord Statistics 2026

Who this page is for

This page is a reference, not a sales page. It brings together publicly available data on UK rent levels, buy-to-let lending, and how UK landlord portfolios are structured, in one place.

It is aimed at journalists, researchers, other advisers, and landlords who want a sourced starting point rather than an anecdote. Every figure links to the original release it comes from. Where a figure has a period attached (most of them do), that is the period the data covers, not the date we last checked it. For how this plays out in a mortgage application specifically, see our expat buy-to-let and non-resident buy-to-let hubs.

UK rent levels and rental growth

Rent inflation has slowed through 2026 but rents are still rising, according to the Office for National Statistics Private rent and house prices, UK bulletin.

• Average UK private rents rose 3.3% in the 12 months to May 2026 (provisional), down from 3.5% in the 12 months to April 2026.
• By nation: England £1,442 a month (up 3.4%), Wales £836 (up 4.7%), and Scotland £1,009 (up 1.0%).
• Within England, annual rent inflation was highest in the North East (5.9%) and lowest in London (2.0%).

The HomeLet Rental Index, compiled from tenant referencing data across more than 5,000 UK letting agents, gives a similar picture with a different methodology:

• The average rent agreed on a new UK tenancy was £1,353 in June 2026, up 3.4% on June 2025.
• Excluding London, the average was £1,157, up 2.7% year on year.
• In Greater London specifically, the average was £2,181, up 5.0% year on year, the strongest annual growth of any UK region.

ONS and HomeLet measure rent differently (a stock of existing tenancies against new tenancies agreed each month), so the two data sets will not match exactly, but both point the same way: rent growth has cooled from its post-pandemic peak without reversing.

Buy-to-let lending and mortgage stock

Buy-to-let lending continued to grow into 2026, based on UK Finance buy-to-let lending data.

• 58,272 new buy-to-let loans were advanced in the first quarter of 2026, worth £10.8 billion.
• Remortgaging drove much of the growth: 39,160 buy-to-let remortgage loans completed in the quarter, up 11.1% year on year.
• 1.47 million buy-to-let mortgages were outstanding on fixed rates at the end of Q1 2026, up 1.4% year on year, against 453,000 on variable rates, down 9.5%. Outstanding buy-to-let balances stood above £313 billion.
• Buy-to-let arrears remain low: 8,960 buy-to-let mortgages were in arrears greater than 2.5% of the outstanding balance, down 560 on the previous quarter, an arrears rate of 0.47% of all buy-to-let mortgages.

For the longer lending trend through 2025, including household and overseas buyer figures, see our UK expat and non-resident property statistics page.

How UK landlord portfolios are structured

The most detailed government data on landlord portfolios comes from the English Private Landlord Survey: segmenting the business models of private landlords, commissioned by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and published in December 2025.

• 45% of landlords owned a single rental property, representing 21% of tenancies. 38% owned between two and four properties (30% of tenancies), and 17% owned five or more (49% of tenancies).
• Individual landlords accounted for around 81% of tenancies, companies for around 15%, and a mix of both for the remaining 3%.
• Portfolio size differs sharply by structure: 86% of individual landlords owned between one and four properties, and 48% owned only one. Among company landlords, 56% owned five or more properties, including 13% owning 25 or more, and only 14% owned just one.
• Landlords with a buy-to-let mortgage were more likely to hold multiple properties: 63% owned more than one, against 40% of landlords with other borrowing and 46% with no borrowing at all.

Separately, industry research points to portfolios growing further. A Pegasus Insight survey reported in July 2026 put the average landlord portfolio at 7.3 properties, and the average limited company landlord portfolio at 15.3 properties, up from 12.8 at the end of 2025, with around two-thirds of those company landlords' holdings now owned through a corporate structure. This is a different, more professionalised sample than the government survey above, so the two figures describe different populations rather than a single trend line.

For how a UK limited company structure works for a non-resident or expat landlord specifically, see the SPV sections on our non-resident buy-to-let and expat buy-to-let pages.

Sources

• Office for National Statistics — Private rent and house prices, UK: May 2026
• HomeLet Rental Index
• UK Finance — Buy-to-let lending data
• Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government / NatCen — English Private Landlord Survey: segmenting the business models of private landlords
• Property Investor Today — Average size of landlord portfolios grows (Pegasus Insight research)

This page is for general information only and is not financial, legal, or tax advice. Figures are third-party data compiled by UK Mortgages Worldwide; we do not control or guarantee their ongoing accuracy, and each source may revise its own figures over time. Always check the original source for the latest published data before relying on a specific number.

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